Automated ODP Listing

listed in ODP without submitting

[FiddleFadler]

I know how difficult and how long it can take to get
a site listed in ODP, and this why I was very surprised
to find my new website already listed in their directory!

I have not submitted this website to ODP and am puzzled
as to how it got listed.

The new website is only a 1 page site at the moment so I cannot believe that an ODP editor would have have approved the site which leads to me conclude that somehow it got
automatically included.

I am not complaining of course, just curious as to how it got listed

Anyone else with a similar experience?

Regards,

FiddleFadler

[mil2k]

Well some guys are lucky :)

ODP editors also seek out and list websites which are not submitted to them. Generally those editors use search engines to find out sites related to their category and list them. Although a listing for a one page New website is fairly Rare.

[kctipton]

>>am puzzled
as to how it got listed. <<

Submitting a site is NOT the best way to get listed. Someone noticed or heard about your site or otherwise found it on someone else's site, and he/she thought it was listable.

[elgumbo]

When someone applies to be an editor of a category, they have to supply 3 domains that they feel are suitable for that category.

You could have been one of the three.

Lucky bugger ;)

[rfgdxm1]

>Although a listing for a one page New website is fairly Rare.

Can depend a lot on the category, and a lot on the editor. For example, let's assume that an editor is a fan of late 1960s-early 1970s bubblegum rock, and has editing privs in the appropriate cat(s). Most of these groups were very minor, and if you can find even a quality one page site you are lucky. At this moment I have an open browser window on a rather good single page site about the "Royal Guardsmen." (Anyone reading remember their "Snoopy" songs?) On free webspace even. If I had editing privs in the appropriate cat, I'd be tempted to add this one. Since I am not, probably this will never see the light of the ODP. My point being that when the topic of a site is far off the beaten path, one page sites easily can be seen as worthwhile.

[trillianjedi]

rfgdxm1 is right, sounds to me like you have a very good content niche market 1 page site!

If you haven't, then something has gone wrong.... enjoy it while it lasts!

Did you buy the domain from someone else or is it fresh?

TJ

[FiddleFadler]

TJ,

It is a fresh new domain.

FiddleFadler

[trillianjedi]

OK, and is it a good content page on a very specific niche market that perhaps is not covered well already by other larger sites?

TJ

[cornwall]

>>Submitting a site is NOT the best way to get listed.

Are you serious about that?

Or phrasing the question differently...roughly what proportion of sites currently added to DMOZ these days are submitted against found by an editor?

[rafalk]

roughly what proportion of sites currently added to DMOZ these days are submitted against found by an editor?

It depends on the category. In Reference/Education/Colleges_and_Universities ... [dmoz.org] it approaches 100% found by an editor, whereas in Shopping/Health/Pharmacy [dmoz.org] it approaches 100% submitted.

Over all, when looking at total percentages for the whole directory the proportion is skewed toward sites that are submitted - but as to the exact percentages no one can say.

[RFranzen]

It depends on the category.

It also depends on the editor. The goal of some editors is to maintain one or two small to mid-size categories, and they do so meticulously. Because they aren't distracted by hundreds or thousands of unreviewed sites elsewhere, they can spend a high-proportion of their editing time focused on improving and growing the category(ies) they have.

-- Rich

[cornwall]

>>when looking at total percentages for the whole directory the proportion is skewed toward sites that are submitted - but as to the exact percentages no one can say. <<

That was my feeling.

As kctipton is a meta (as indeed rafalk is too) I queried that thought that "Submitting a site is NOT the best way to get listed" in order that we do not start another urban legand here ;)

[FiddleFadler]

<I have not submitted this website to ODP and am puzzled
as to how it got listed.>

Just checked again my ODP/DMOZ listing - I am listed
in 4 different categories!

I cannot believe that 4 different editors would approve
and list a one page website into the directory.

Even more mysterious.

FiddleFadler

[kctipton]

Do you really want to be 1 of a half-jillion sites submitted to category XYZ, all awaiting review? Yeah your site might get listed eventually... You have to stand out to move to the front of the line, so to speak. An excellent title and description PLUS quality content _might_ help you get to the front of the line, but I add sites all the time which I read about or saw somewhere other than an unreviewed queue. The local paper, yellow pages, TV ads, "best of" sites, topical stories of current interest -- those are places you should be trying to get mentioned. Google will spider your listings whether or not they're in ODP, too, and editors use Google a whole lot from what I've read. Editors also enjoy the "discovery" of a good site not yet listed. Catch the attention of any one of us and you might not have to wait :)

[trillianjedi]

Just checked again my ODP/DMOZ listing - I am listed
in 4 different categories!

You must have a damn good one page site!

TJ

[ettore]

Back when I was a newbie editor I built up a whole category with Italian sites about herpetology. Out of the current 48 sites, probably 2-3 have been submitted, the others have been found surfing and following links. I still manage to find time to search and add sites there, when I want to take a break from huge spam-filled unreviewed queues.

[coosblues]

I previously had a free website which I had all but forgotten about. I never submitted it to ODP but about a year later I noticed it was listed. The site today is no longer in existence, although the placeholder index.html is still there and the ODP directory reflects the site as it was well over 6 months ago.

[rfgdxm1]

Very common coosblues due to the lack of editors, and all the submissions. There a something like 4 million listed sites in the ODP. No way the editors can keep checking up on all of them. However, there are editors who have only a small number of cats (and, editors with lots of cats, but have "pet" cats), to watch. Such editors can feasibly, and often do, check out every listed site periodically to see if they should be deleted.

[coosblues]

rfgdxm1 - I realized that as I've just become an editor for a very small category, but that's a good place for me to start. Point well taken, but I do think google should not put so much emphasis on the ODP. GG often mentions "get yourself an ODP listing", but waiting for months if not years is quite frustrating and it would seem to me Google should be aware of the congestion. I very seldom hear a nice word about the ODP so then my question to you is: Why does Google place so much emphasis on the ODP?

[rfgdxm1]

coosblues - GG has also posted that an ODP link is treated no different than a link on any other website. Google doesn't place any special emphasis on the ODP. And, considering that most ODP categories have rather low PR, and worse yet a lot of links on the page, typically an ODP listing just isn't that valuable. Seriously, there are a lot of teenagers out there with home pages that getting a link on will do more for a site than an ODP listing. Particularly since you can get that teenager to link to you with exactly the right keyword laden anchor text, unlike with the ODP.